The rain is beautiful – so are the flowers! Lavender roses always stop me – I don’t expect a rose to be that color. There’s always a surprise! Is this prickly rose a wildflower? Where I grew up, roses always were planted by someone other than Mother Nature.

Yes, these are wild, one of about four species native to this area. They are abundant, especially along the larger streams and in the valleys. There’s a large area of them between my house and the river where they are so thick it’s impossible to walk through them. I grew up with the wild ones but my Mother always grew a variety of roses around the house too.

Thank you! I’m usually in luck here because I love to photograph in the rain and in spring there are many rainy days. Later in the summer when I can get into the high country I like some sunny days for landscape photos though.